Based on the film of the same name, School of Rock—The Musical tells the story of wannabe rock star Dewey Finn, who poses as a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school. When he discovers his students’ musical talents, he enlists his fifth-graders to form a rock group and conquer the Battle of the Bands.

History Shubert has owned the Winter Garden Theatre longer than any of its other venues. The playhouse occupies the second American Horse Exchange, built by William K. Vanderbilt in 1896, when Longacre (now Times) Square was the center of the horse and carriage trade. By 1911, when the Shuberts leased the Exchange, horses had given way to the automobile and legitimate stage was making inroads north of 42nd St. The Winter Garden was converted into a theatre in 1911, and had brief interludes as a movie house from 1928 to 1933 when Warner Brothers leased it, and again in 1945, when United Artists ran it.

Productions The Winter Garden has traditionally been home to revues and musicals. The Passing Show (the Shubert answer to Ziegfeld’s Follies) and almost every Al Jolson musical played here. After Ziegfeld’s death, editions of his Follies played the theatre in 1934, 1936, 1943 and 1947 and featured artists such as Fanny Brice, Bobby Clark, Bob Hope, Eve Arden, Gypsy Rose Lee, Josephine Baker, and Willie Howard.

Mary Martin starred in Peter Pan (1954), followed by the premier of West Side Story (1957) with Chita Rivera, Carol Lawrence, and a creative team that included Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Laurents, and Jerome Robbins. The 1960s also witnessed a number of hits. Leading the list were The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1960); Funny Girl (1964), which made Barbra Streisand a major star; and Mame (1966) with Angela Lansbury.

In the 1970s, both popular and cutting-edge productions played at the Winter Garden. Stephen Sondheim and James Goldman’s Follies (1971) harkened back to the theatre’s early history as home to a follies-type revue. Gypsy (1974) was revived with Angela Lansbury, Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman offered Pacific Overtures (1976), and Gilda Radner came to Broadway in Gilda Radner — Live from New York (1979). 42nd Street (1980) opened at the playhouse before moving to the Majestic. In 1982 Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats premiered and ran until September 2000, the second longest-running show in Broadway history. Mamma Mia!, based on the songs of ABBA, debuted in 2001 and continues to play here to this day.